SANT'ANGELO LAYING
Emblematic bridge of Rome spanning the Tiber and opening a majestic path to the Sant'Angelo Castle.
Rome's emblematic bridge spans the Tiber, opening a majestic path to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Built around 123 AD during Hadrian's reign, it was then called Pons Aelius, as evidenced by the engravings on its ends, and was dedicated to the emperor's imperial mausoleum. Later, it became the main Roman access to the Vatican and nearby St. Peter's Basilica. The complex was then renamed "Saint Angelo" in honor of the Archangel Michael, who is said to have protected the city from the Black Death around the year 600. During the sack of Rome in 1527, Pope Clement VII, trapped in the castle, managed to escape from Charles V's armies. On his return, he had the bridge decorated with statues of St. Peter by Lorenzetto, with four evangelists, and St. Paul by Paolo Romano, with four Old Testament patriarchs: Adam, Noah, Abraham and Moses. But despite its Christian symbolism, the bridge was the scene of macabre executions, with heads displayed along the parapet.
In 1667, Pope Clement IX commissioned Bernini to renovate the bridge and turn it into a work of art. He opened balustrades to take advantage of the view over the river, and created a Way of the Cross with ten angels carrying the instruments of the Passion to the castle. The most notable of these are: the angel with the column (by Antonio Raggi), the angel with the whip (by Lazzaro Mrelli), the angel with the crown of thorns (by Bernini himself), the angel with the cross (by Ercole Ferrata) and the angel with the lance (by Domenico Guidi).
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12 anges majestueux.
Belles photos à faire avec vue sur le fleuve et le château saint Ange